Mountain guides assistance
- Why Powrock?
Because Powrock is a "guide-centred" system whose goals include promoting and enhancing the professional figure of the mountain guide. Our mission is in fact to become the brand of reference in the market for the disciplines, activities and services that lie within the perimeter of a guide's expertise.
The model we offer is not simply a response to new market dynamics and needs, it is a solution to the critical nodes and issues of the guide's profession.
In synthesis, the advantages of joining Powrock can be:
- better performance of overall sales
- control and optimization of sales
- optimization of workday coverage
- certainty of reservations and earnings
- barrier against "competitors"
- customer fidelisation
If you want to know more, write us at guide@powrock.com
- What are the main principles behind the Powrock model?
The Powrock model is based on:
- real time availability, that allows the customer to reserve the service he wants immediately, whether it be a specific excursion, individual or group, or a day with a guide for a generic activity ("personalised" excursion to determine with the customer).
- the guide's knowledge of the territory, meaning the area (the locations) in which he generally exercises his profession, to allow the system to associate the reservations with the guides who work in that given territory,
- a complete, univocal and homogeneous offer of activities and excursions, which may be reserved based on the availability of the guides who operate in the territory in which these excursions take place [*], to offer the customer established and recognizable standards of quality.
In order for the booking to work as it should, it is essential that the guide:
- efficiently administer his calendar of available days, keeping it perfectly up-to-date using the system at his disposal.
- indicate the locations in which he operates, coherently with the way he manages his available time. If he needs to change the region or area he works in, he must immediately report the fact to the email address guide@powrock.com.
- actively participate in building our offer by proposing activities, excursions, services and initiatives in a collaborative spirit, aimed at developing and promoting opportunities in his area of competence.
[*] One of the distinctive characteristics of the model is that the activities and excursions are offered univocally by Powrock. All the guides who work in a specific area are therefore associated with all the activities and excursions available in that territory. When a customer reserves an activity or an excursion, the system assigns the reservation to one of the guides who is free on that date.
- How do you join Powrock?
To join and offer his professional services to Powrock customers, the mountain guide must submit an application to the email address: guide@powrock.com, indicating:
- name and surname
- address
- telephone number
- location/generic area he/she operates in
We will contact the guide as soon as possible.
- What are the minimum requisites required to join Powrock?
To join and offer his professional services to Powrock customers, the mountain guide must necessarily:
- be a certified mountain guide officially registered in the Albo delle Guide Alpine, the mountain guide association
- be up-to-date with payments for his insurance against civil liability
- be up-to-date with the mandatory periodical continual professional development
- actively participate in the communication and promotion of Powrock
- provide and update required information on his professional profile
- provide and promptly update available dates
- Can aspirant mountain guides and AMM join Powrock?
Yes, both aspirant guides and medium-mountain guides or other specialised professional figures recognised and certified by mountain guide associations can join Powrock and provide their professional services according to the rules, limitations and constraints specified for each of these figures.
All activities and excursions that are part of the possible and recognised spheres of the profession may be associated.
- What is it important to know about territorial competence?
To offer the customer a prompt and complete reservation service, in addition to real-time availability, it is important that each guide have his own territorial competence, meaning that the perimeter within which he operates must be well-defined.
Each guide will therefore be associated to all the locations within the perimeter in which he operates and within which he can provide an efficient service to the Powrock customer, so that he may be reserved for the excursions or activities that take place within the area of his competence.
The guide can modify his territorial competence, definitively or temporarily, should he relocate his range of action. To do so, he must submit his request to: guide@powrock.com
- Can mountaineering schools join Powrock?
Yes, mountaineering schools can join Powrock.
To join, the school must submit a request to the email address guide@powrock.com, specifying:
- name of the school
- web site
- address
- telephone number
- generic area/locations of territorial competence
- number of guides in the school
One of our representatives will promptly contact the school to provide all the required information.
- How are the Powrock proposals structured?
The catalogue is structured to respond to the various requirements of the customer and divided into three sections:
- catalogue of individual excursions
[activity, place and route - dedicated mountain guide] - catalogue of group excursions
[activity, date of excursion, place and route – shared mountain guide] - reservation service for a day with a guide for a generic activity
[excursion to be defined – dedicated mountain guide]
The guide who joins Powrock is associated by default to the proposed excursions and activities available in his area of territorial competence (locations) and will therefore be eligible to be matched to the relative reservations, depending on his available dates and on those of his colleagues operating in the same area.
For any limitations, the guide must set to his/her excursions or activities, please send notice to the email address: guide@ powrock.com
- catalogue of individual excursions
- What is meant by individual excursion?
Individual excursion means an activity (for example: rock climbing) that takes place in a specific location (for example: Tre Cime di Lavaredo), has a predetermined route (for example: via Spigolo Giallo) and defined characteristics (difficulty, duration, number of participants, ...).
It is called individual because it must be reserved in a single reservation session, by a single customer, for a number of participants that does not exceed the maximum number allowed. It has a period of validity (seasonal/feasible).
It may always be reserved for the dates included in the period of validity, if at least one guide is available on that date.
The individual excursion may last one or more days.
- If the duration is one day, it may always be reserved directly, using the online reservation system, depending on the availability of the guides in that territory. The price shown is per excursion, independently of the number of participants.
- If the duration is more than one day, the reservation must be made upon request.The pricing policy may vary in relation to the type of excursion and may be indicated per person or per excursion.
All individual excursions will be accompanied by a dedicated mountain guide.
- What is meant by group excursion?
There are two types of group excursion:
- the specific excursion, referred to an activity (for example: via ferrata) to take place in a specific place (for example: Col dei Bos, Cortina d'Ampezzo), having a predetermined route (for example: ferrata degli Alpini) and defined characteristics (difficulty, duration, number of participants, ... )
[→ via ferrata degli Alpini al Col dei Bos, Cortina d’Ampezzo] - the "roulette" excursion, referred to an activity (for example: via ferrata) to take place in an area with a variety of possible itineraries, included within a range of defined characteristics (difficulty, duration, number of participants, ... ).
[→ vie ferrate di Cortina d’Ampezzo]
It is called a group excursion because it may be reserved in more than one reservation session, by different clients, for a number of participants no greater than the maximum number allowed and not exceeding the number of positions open at the time of reservation.
It has a period of validity (season/feasible).
It indicates specific dates for the excursion on which the reservation may be made.
The price shown is per person.
The group excursion may last one or more days.
- If the duration is one day, it may always be reserved directly, using the online reservation system, depending on the availability of the guides in that territory.
- If the duration is more than one day, the reservation must be made upon request.
All group excursions will be accompanied by a shared mountain guide.
- the specific excursion, referred to an activity (for example: via ferrata) to take place in a specific place (for example: Col dei Bos, Cortina d'Ampezzo), having a predetermined route (for example: ferrata degli Alpini) and defined characteristics (difficulty, duration, number of participants, ... )
- Can the guide propose excursions?
He certainly can, in fact we hope that every mountain guide will participate in building our offer by proposing excursions.
In this sense it is important to define two typologies of proposals:
- "common" excursions, that may generally be made by any of the guides and are therefore associated, for reservation, with all the guides in the territory in which the excursion takes place,
- "personal" excursions, meaning the ones that are associated only with the guide who proposes them for reasons of specificity, characteristics or organization.
Proposals are welcome for both group and individual excursions.
The proposals should be submitted to guide@powrock.com, with:
- a description of the excursion
- technical specifications
- location
- duration
- images
- the programme, services that are included and those that are not
- dates in which it may take place, for group excursions
- number of participants
- technical equipment required
- price
- conditions for reservation (options, timeframe and deadlines, ...)
- other
- What is meant by reserving a day with a guide for an activity?
Activity refers generically to the various disciplines that are part of the mountain guide's area of expertise: high-altitude mountain climbing, rock climbing, ice and via ferrata climbing, snowshoeing, ski mountaineering, backcountry skiing, canyoning, trekking.
Powrock offers a reservation service for a day with a guide to all customers who don't know what excursion to take or simply want a guide to advise them or choose for them.
To make a reservation, the customer must choose the location where he wants to go and the activity he is interested in. Having verified that a guide is available in the area, the reservation may then be made.
The number of participants who may be included in the reservation and the price for the day vary in relation to the type of activity that is chosen.
Every presentation page associated with a location and an activity specifies the technical characteristics used to choose the excursion (for example: classic rock-climbing on routes up to grade VI max.).
The activity has a period of validity (seasonal/feasible).
It can always be reserved directly, using the online reservation system, for the dates included in the period of validity, if there is at least one guide available.
All reservations for an activity include the services of a dedicated mountain guide.
- Can customers make a reservation for a specific guide?
Customers who make their first reservation on Powrock will be matched with a mountain guide assigned to them among those available for the selected date. In this case they cannot choose a specific guide.
Customers who have already purchased services will be able to visualize, in their profile area, the list of mountain guides with whom they have already shared an experience. They may consult their profile, programmes and ascertain whether they are available. They may then make a direct reservation with the guide they want and trust.
Please note
Currently all reservation services are upon request. The direct instant reservation system, based on the real availability of the guides, is currently being developed and will soon be online. - How can a guide communicate with the customers?
Every time a customer makes a reservation the system sends a notification to the guide with the details of the reservation and the customer's references.
The guide can visualize the reservation record on the schedule from which he manages his available dates and in the section with current reservations. In addition to the reservation details, the record also contains the customer's details with contact information and the link to his profile, where he may view his mountaineering curriculum.
Please note
Currently all reservation services are upon request. The direct instant reservation system, based on the real availability of the guides, is currently being developed and will soon be online. - Can the guide cancel, interrupt or modify an excursion?
The mountain guide can cancel, interrupt or modify the route of an excursion when minimum safety conditions cannot be guaranteed.
The decision to cancel, interrupt or modify may be prompted by:
- weather conditions
- environmental conditions of the territory of action
- injury to the participants
- training and experience of the participants
- behaviour of the participants
- causes of force majeure, such as for example interruption of lift service, breakage of equipment during the excursion, lack/inadequacy of the technical material necessary to make the excursion, ...
Any cancellations, interruptions or changes must be communicated immediately to guide@powrock.com
If the guide is available and the customer agrees, the excursion may be rescheduled for another day, and notice must be sent immediately to guide@powrock.com
- What happens in the case the guide is not available on the day of the excursion?
In the case the guide is not available on the day/days of the excursion he must send notice immediately to guide@powrock.com, specifying the reasons.
- What are the standard commercial conditions for the guides?
The standard commercial conditions define the general and common terms for the economic relationship that is established between the guide and Powrock.
They include:
- the amount of the commission on the services of the guide, for the reservations that have been successfully brought to term
- the percentage on cancellation fees for reservations that are not brought to term (cancelled or not confirmed)
- the rules of accounting and invoicing
- methods and schedule of payments
The guide's fee, except in specific cases agreed upon in advance, refers exclusively to his professional service (day with the guide), in addition to any tax obligations, and not to any other services rendered.
Please note
Powrock does not accept cash payments made directly by the customers to the guide and/or any other providers of services purchased through its systems. This practice is a violation of our terms of service and may lead to the cancellation of the guide's accreditation. - What is Powrock's pricing policy?
Powrock promotes a pricing policy that is essentially founded on homogeneity and uniformity with respect to the services rendered, on clarity and transparency with respect to the communication to the customer:
- excursions that have similar characteristics will be priced the same independently of where they take place,
- the same excursion will have the same final price whether offered as an individual or as a group excursion, under the same conditions (for example: number of participants).
- the days with a guide for a certain activity, within a range of similar characteristics and defined limitations, will be priced the same independently of where they take place.
Powrock has established an internal committee to define the parameters for determining and validating the pricing. The committee is constituted by mountain guides and marketing experts working for Powrock.